McSteamboat

Before I left pictures. Sorry they're all out of order. Damn you blogspot.

Hallo and welcome. Coz, I have just arrived. After a very very long travel time with no sleep, here I am in Steamboat Springs, which is charming and idyllic.

I want to make sure I strike a healthy balance between education (which I wrote about a couple of days ago) and what's going on - as my memories shite, and I'd prefer to retain this information!

And as you can see below, we are living a sweet wee condo with this double bed room and a suite which we gals are going to share around. As it is very flash and not fair for just one to have the whole time. No siree bob.

Well, I'll start with the story of goodbyes: firstly an inebriated but fun night with wine, italians and new bffs in town. Not much to say except it is really nice when you meet friends of your friend which justifies why that friend is so great to begin with - So Esther and Lydia are brilliant friends of Aroha and make Aroha all the more great.

esther, lydia, aroha and kate
em and kate in steamboat

Saturday was spent with Dad, lunch at Scorch-o-rama and getting a wee digi camera for my birthday present. Booyah. Was such a nice day. Did anyone else know that George Harrison funded 'The Life of Brian' and had to mortgage his house to do so. All because he wanted to see how it turned out.....!?

Anyway, then a night of raucous fun, laughter and bittersweetness followed with a night out at circa (hawhaw - clearly the hub of all things McGilly) and then town, Betty's and the stupid Apartment bar which is trying to be a New York wankfest (haha, will probably come back with a faux American accent and then who'll be laughing??!!)

It was extremely wonderful and overwhelming because it was the first time I really clocked how much support I've had on this venture. Am very lucky. Am very thankful.

Then I was HIDEOUSLY hung over on Sunday but still managed to repack. Which is great. On account of I think I might've actually nailed it this time and brought the necessities but not brought too much! Hung out with Mammy all day and then she made a delightful meal which was shared with friends and family. Hilarious series of events, in that the (raw) chicken didn't turn up until the people turned up (sorry Uncle Michael but it was quite funny) so we had to make do for a couple of hours while it cooked. It was really all my fault because I hate fish pie, and everyone seems to have wanted to make it as a going away feast. Despite knowing it is something that makes my stomach turn.

Then I think, now you have the low down on my going away party stylings. Well, actually you don't because once I realised my parents and all their friends are reading this I had to make some censor offers...!

Got to the airport and had an emotional time saying g'bye to Mam and Soph. Crammed in on late air NZ flight then running late for our international flight to Los Angeles... was a mish. I had too many small bottles of liquid going through customs. But I explained to the customs officer that most of my tiny clinique/Yves Saint Laurent/La Prairie stuff was sealed (all got free as bits from other people - so I'm not a rich one) and that it was an absolute necessity that I have the brightening eye cream. To cut a long story short, I had to remove one deodorant - which I gave to Emma - and got on the plane.

Qantas is definitely not the most comfortable seating. No leg room, and I have stumpy legs. And it was extremely full so I couldn't go lurching around trying to find spare seats. Actually, I tried to no avail. Got into trouble when I thought I'd found 3 sweet seats and it was the air stewards. However, our air steward Brett (there was only one lady steward on the plane) took to me and Emma, we really impressed him with our charm and wit, and therefore got a ton of freebie chocolate and bits and bobs. He offered a massage at one point which was clearly a joke but I made awkward by talking about having a 45 minute one. Oh yeah.

I watched several films. Coco and Stravinsky which I liked very much. Two characters who are very full of themselves and appreciate seeing that in each other while pretending all other aspects of themselves don't exist. Beautiful scriptwriting with a director who knew when to give space without seeming long, drawn-out, etc. I think I preferred Audrey Tatou as Coco, but Anne ? gave something very sexy and stubborn that Audrey wouldn't have pulled off perhaps. Mads Mickleson is just glorious.

What else? I watched about 20 minutes of Dear John. Valentines Day, which was funny in parts, A Single Man which was very good. Colin was divine. And Nicholas Hoult reminded me so much of Dan Hannah.

Ok, so I didn't sleep. We landed in L.A and tiredness set in. My customs officer was I'm sure, the same guy I had a couple of years ago, who was soooo nice then! This time however, He kept looking and checking my passport 'What are you doing in the U.S?' 'Where's Steamboat?' 'Why go there?' Because I was so demented I just harped on about charming friends and Broadway, which made him smile. It's funny how you can be made to feel like a crim, when you have done nothing wrong!

Next, LAX. And the finding of our flight to Denver. What a mission trying to get tickets. And not pay the extraordinary baggage cost. Um what, $45? No. So sorted that then got on a bumpy ride to Denver with some very badly groomed air stewardesses who kept forgetting which city we were going too, and on which, despite the weird humming on the right wing, I slept for one hour. We had been travelling for about 20 hours by this point.

An beautiful ride to Steamboat - took ages - but seeing amazing grand canyon-esque rocks with the American Flag fluttering away on it and horses, and broken down old mansions, and shite loads of skilodge condos. All against pine trees and streams and big hills.

And now, here in the condo. A dinner with Stuart at Panda Chinese. Yum. And sleep. That's all for now.x